Use the remote control viewer to remotely access a device. You can only remote control Windows and Mac devices that have the LANDesk agent installed. During a remote control session, you will have the same rights and privileges as the logged-in user on the remote device. You can do anything at the remote device that the user sitting at it can do.
Once you've taken control of a remote device, its screen appears in the viewer window. Because the viewer window often isn't as big as the remote device’s screen, you’ll either need to use the scroll bars to scroll up, down, and side to side, or use the Scale feature to rescale the remote screen representation so it fits in the viewer window. Scaling reduces the image quality, and if the scaler has to reduce the screen size too much you may have a hard time reading text.
You can also increase the viewer window displayable area by disabling items in the Session menu, such as the chat and log panes or the toolbar. Use the Session menu's Full screen option to completely remove the viewer window's controls. If the remote screen's resolution exceeds yours, it will be scaled to fit your monitor.
If you want to speed up the viewing rate or change the viewer window settings, use the LANDesk Remote Control menu's Preferences option to display the Options dialog.
Read the following sections for more information:
Before you can do any remote control tasks, you must connect to the target device. Only one viewer can communicate with a device at a time, though you can open multiple viewer windows and control different devices at the same time. When you connect to a device, you can see connection messages and status in the log pane, if that is visible. If it isn't, you can display it by clicking Session > Show log.
If you want to start a new session, click File > New. To stop a session, click File > Close. If the Session menu options are dimmed, you aren't connected to a device.
You can use the remote control viewer to remotely chat with a user at a remote device. This feature is useful if you need to give instructions to a remote user whose dial-up connection is using the only available phone line. Users can respond back using the chat window that appears on their screen. You can only use chat on devices that have the LANDesk Agent for Mac installed. This feature works even if you’re not viewing a remote device's screen.
If you want to save the messages from a chat session, you can. Any text appearing in the gray area of the chat session will be saved to a text file.
Your message will appear on the remote device's screen. A user can respond by typing a message and clicking Send. The user also can click Close to exit out of a chat session.
You can send special key sequences such as Alt-Tab to remote devices. You need to use a menu item to send these key sequences to prevent your local OS from intercepting them.
Once you're connected to a remote device, click Session and click the special key sequence you want. The available special key sequences vary, depending on the operating system you're remote controlling.
If you don't want to see the remote device's screen but you still want to be able to chat with a user at the remote device, you can stop observation.
You can customize these remote control options:
Use the Options dialog box's Change settings tab (LANDesk Remote Control > Preferences) to adjust the remote control settings.
Use the Options dialog box's Optimize performance tab (LANDesk Remote Control > Preferences) to optimize remote control performance.
Changing the optimization setting dynamically adjusts color reduction, wallpaper visibility, and remote windows appearance effects (the ones you can adjust in Windows Display Properties > Appearance > Effects), such as transition effects for menus and tool tips.
Remote control always uses a highly efficient compression algorithm for remote control data. However, even with compression, it requires a lot of data to send high color depth information. You can substantially reduce the amount of remote control data required by reducing the color depth displayed in the remote control viewer. When the viewer reduces the color depth, the viewer has to map the full color palette from the remote desktop to a reduced color palette in the viewer. As a result, you may notice colors in the remote control window that don't accurately reflect the remote desktop. If that's a problem, select a higher-quality compression setting.
Another way you can optimize performance is to Suppress remote wallpaper. When you do this, remote control doesn't have to send wallpaper updates as parts of the remote desktop are uncovered. Wallpaper often includes bandwidth-intensive images, such as photographs. These don't compress well and take time to transfer over slower connections.
You can customize which buttons appear on the remote control toolbar.
You can change the button size by clicking Use small size. You can also use the Show option to show icons only, text only, or both icons and text.